Market Capitalization: Apple vs. Wal-Mart, Microsoft

Apple’s market capitalization (~$218.2 billion today) has been higher than Wal-Mart’s (~$191.5 billion) for about the last three months (see chart below), which is especially interesting considering that Apple’s market cap was less than $10 billion in late 2003 when Wal-Mart’s (WMT) value was almost $200 billion.

Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan.

He holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University in Washington, D.C. and an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Since 1997, Professor Perry has been a member of the Board of Scholars for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a nonpartisan research and public policy institute in Michigan.

3 Comments on Market Capitalization: Apple vs. Wal-Mart, Microsoft

More than Apple is doing well, it seems that Microsoft is doing very poorly. Apple eventually overtaking Microsoft in market cap will be like stealing candy from a sick baby. Vista was one of the worst things that ever happened to Microsoft. The iPad will be the second worst thing. One more spurt from Apple shares up to around $280 or so will leave Microsoft gasping for air. I'm sure Apple will recover from this recent market drop faster than Microsoft. Look out Exxon-Mobil, here comes Apple.

I still remember when Michael Dell said that AAPL should just close up and return the money they have to shareholders. Now, AAPL is worth over $200 billion and DELL is $26 billion. Crazy how a company can reinvent itself so well.
If any company has a chance of growing larger than future AAPL it will be Google and not Microsoft